By: Ellie Zhang 1
Hurricane Beryl reached most of the eastern parts of Texas, including Houston, the largest city in Texas by area and population. On the morning of July 8th, Beryl created a massive destruction causing fallen trees, floods, damaged vehicles, and damaged power lines which led to no electricity or wifi. Unfortunately, the hurricane caused lives to be lost.
“For those of you in northeast Texas, be aware. You will have tropical storm winds, maybe as late as midnight or 1 a.m. You will have flooding, and you will have rain.” Lieutenant governor Dan Patrick said on Reuters.
Due to the heavy rain occurring simultaneously, streams and bayous are overflowing, which causes flooding. Many streets had surpassed 5 inches of water, some places even over 10.
As a result of the dangerously high levels of water, Houston officials warned residents to stay off the roads at all times as they were in the process of water rescue, mostly to save the people who had driven into the floods.
“We’re in rescue mode,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said. “Help us not risk emergency response lives and time.”
Humans are not the only ones in danger, as well as floods not being the only problem. High winds caused many trees in Sugar Land to collapse–including one large tree that fell right on top of a home.
That was not the only incident when a tree had collapsed on a building. According to Mark Herman, the official for Northern Houston, A 74-year-old woman had died after a tree fell through her house. A 45-year-old man living in Harris County died of the same cause.
Hurricane Beryl weakens more and more as it moves further inland, with winds at 65 miles per hour. Regardless, the tropical storm is still traveling to other parts of Texas’s coast, leaving destruction in its path.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y49gwln0o
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/07/us/texas-hurricane-beryl